Which football games will Lamar win?

If you wonder how many games the Lamar University football team will win this season, perhaps this will help you. I’ve ranked each of Lamar’s 11 opponents for the 2010 season based on the Lamar’s likelihood for a victory, from most likely to least likely.

1. Webber International (Sept. 11, Beaumont): Lamar’s first home game in nearly 21 years will be against an NAIA school that counts beach volleyball as an intercollegiate sport. How tough could they be?

2. Langston (Sept. Oct. 9, Beaumont): Here’s another school nobody has heard of until now, but at least this NAIA school made the playoffs last season. Even so, Lamar should win. After all, it’s homecoming. You can’t lose on homecoming.

3. Panhandle State (Nov. 20, Beaumont): The scheduling of this NCAA Division II opponent – another smaller school – as Lamar’s last for the 2010 season gives the impression that the Cardinals will finish their first season since 1989 with a ‘W.’

4. South Alabama (Oct. 16, Beaumont): Here’s where things get iffy. The Jaguars routed each of its seven opponents last season, but those were against junior college and lower-division schools during South Alabama’s first season of college football. USA will be a full-fledged Sun Belt Conference member and will play in the Football Bowl Subdivision in 2013.

5. South Dakota (Nov. 13, Beaumont): This game would be ranked one spot higher if it were played in September, when the humidity might be too much to handle for the visiting Coyotes.

6. Georgia State (Nov. 6, Atlanta): Georgia State, like Lamar, is a first-year program, so the playing field is pretty even. Ray Woodard will test his wits against Bill Curry, a head coach at Georgia Tech, Alabama and Kentucky before getting hired at Georgia State.

7. Sam Houston State (Oct. 2, Beaumont): Playing at home, this might be Lamar’s best chance at a confidence-boosting game against a Southland Conference opponent. Lamar will be a football-playing Southland member in 2011.

8. North Dakota (Oct. 30, Grand Forks, N.D.): The long plane ride to Grand Forks, which is about an hour’s drive from the Canadian border, might be a bit much for this Lamar bunch to take.

9. Southeastern Louisiana (Sept. 18, Hammond, La.): The Lions return nine defensive starters from last season, when they had winning overall and league records for the first time since they joined the Southland in 2005.

10. Stephen F. Austin (Sept. 25, Nacogdoches): Quarterback Jeremy Moses is the returning Southland Conference player of the year, and the SFA offense will be about as potent as Lamar will face this season. SFA and McNeese shared the conference title last season.

11. McNeese State (Sept. 4, Lake Charles, La.): This game might be put one spot higher if it weren’t Lamar’s first this season. Nerves might be a factor. But credit Woodard with accepting the challenge of opening against a tough team on the road.

Dabe’s prediction: 5 wins, 6 losses. How many games do you think Lamar will win this season?